Grimnoir Chronicles series
The Grimnoir Chronicles Trilogy by Larry Correia. Genres and Sub-Genres Urban Fantasy / Noir UF / Sci-Fantasy / Alternate History / Historical Urban Fantasy Series Description or Overview ✥ A smart, authentic, incredibly fun alternate history in which magic has been incorporated into an otherwise recognizable world of the 1930’s. ~ Goodreads Reader ✥ Jake Sullivan is a war hero, a private eye—and an ex-con. He’s free because he has a magical talent, being able to alter the force of gravity in himself and objects in his vicinity, and the Bureau of Investigation calls on him when they need his help in apprehending criminals with their own magical talents. But the last operation he was sent along to help with went completely wrong, and Delilah Jones, the woman the G-men were after, who just happened to be an old friend of Jake’s in happier times, had a lot of magical muscle with her, too much muscle for the cops to handle, even with Jake’s help. ~ My Novels | Monster Hunter Nation Books in Series Grimnoir Chronicles trilogy: # Hard Magic (2011) # Spellbound (2011) # Warbound (2013) ~ Final Shorts, Anthologies and Guides *0. The Grimnoir Chronicles: Detroit Christmas (2011) ~ Free prequel short: Baen Books World Building Setting Alternate early 1930s America Supernatural Elements SUPE TYPES: Wizard, Magic, Monster Hunters, Actives (magic works for them), zombies, knights, Aliens, airship pirates, refugee creature from another universe eating Earth's magic, magic armor, supe mob/gansters, SUPER POWERS: teleportation, healing, pyrokinetics, electricity, invulnerability, super strength, telekinesis, density manipulation, super speed, ESP, weather manipulation, controlling fire, etc TECH ELEMENTS: zeppelins, experimental airship, robots, all manner of deadly cool toys, Power armor, 'Glossary:' * Cursed One: ancient entity returned to settle a centuries old vendetta * Japanese Imperium: alternate Japanese Empire run by the most powerful Active in the world, the Chairman—rose to power instead of the Third Reich ACTIVES: * Heavy: magic user who can control gravity * Brute: super strength—channel Power through their bodies, increasing their physical strength and toughness * Traveller: teleports * Fade: can walk through solid objects * Pale Horse: magic is disease and death * Reader: Telepathy—can read people's minds ~ List of Active types: Active Types - Grimnoir Chronicles Wiki 'Goups & Orgaizations': * Grimnoir: Secret Organisation of people who wield Magic. Dedicated to protecting the innocent and freedom. * Iron Guard: Magically enhanced warriors of the Imperium 'Historical Figures': * Raymond Chandler * Buckminster Fuller * Franklin Delano Roosevelt * John Moses Browning * Grigori Rasputin World ❖ An alternate universe—beginning in 1850’s—where one percent of humanity has some degree of magical ability, airships decorate the skies of all modernized nations, wars are fought with supernatural forces, armies are made up of the living and dead alike, and Nikola Tesla's "Peace Ray" is the primary deterrent against an all out war. Some individuals with profound abilities, so-called Actives, are people just like everybody else. But while most nations embrace their diversity, some enslave them, while others experiment on them brutally. These books detail their tribulations and glories. ~ Grimnoir Chronicles ~ FB ❖ The 1930's was an era of charm sophistication. The world was just coming out of the great depression, cars were starting to become affordable, men wore pinstripe suits and women wore flapper dresses, gangsters and corruption controlled the cities, and people would converse using the full range of the English language, often hiding what they really meant to say between layers of entendre. It is an area that has remained largely untouched by genre fiction but with Hard Magic by Larry Correia, that is all likely to change. The Grimnoir Chronicles is a fantasy story set in the 1930's and is full wizards who practice all sorts of magical powers. The story follows Jake Sullivan, a "Heavy" who has the ability to control and manipulate gravity, density and mass. During a routine operation to take down a fellow "active", Sullivan becomes caught up with a secret society of "actives" called The Grimnoir as they try to save the world. This is very much a superhero story, an alternate history story where the timeline diverges from around the 1850's after seemingly random people suddenly started acquiring a range of magical abilities. Correia has a lot of fun with the alternate history here, taking some of the achievements by famous historic figures and attributing them to magic powers in a subtle but effective effort to build a unique world. Famous men such as Tesla and Einstein are given the abilities of "Cogs" and are about to advance their theories and inventions far beyond what they achieved in our time line. The level of detail here adds to the overall appeal of the story, helping it to become one of the more entertaining stories of 2011. ~ Hard Magic - Fantasy book review ❖ The magic system of Hard Magic really felt more like “super powers” than the stuff of sorcery and this made it both familiar and fresh at the same time. Each Active has access to a single magic/power and the varieties are amazing. Examples include teleportation, healing, pyrokinetics, electricity, invulnerability, super strength, telekinesis, density manipulation, super speed, ESP, etc... ~ Goodreads Reader ❖ There was a secret war being waged by opposing forces of magic-users, and Jake had no idea that he had just attracted the attention of one side, whose ruthless leaders were of the opinion that Jake was far too dangerous to be permitted to live. ~ Hard Magic (Grimnoir Chronicles 1) Shelfari ❖ There many awesome machines and magically augmented technologies like zeppelins with awesome fire power and magical armor. The magic and its rules is just as intricate as the technology and the magic evolves over the course of this story as if it had its own character arc. This story isn’t just fight after fight but it’s intelligent and thought provoking with characters making calculated moves as if on a massive chessboard. The diverse cast of characters have a wonderful array of magical abilities and backgrounds that I thirsted for more time with each one of them. Their struggles for acceptance along with their abilities were very reminicent of X-Men with abilities such as weather manipulation, controlling fire, teleportation and telekinesis. The great thing is that they aren’t all soldiers or even fighters. There are scientists, doctors, diplomats, detectives, serial killers, and engineers present making for a fun clash of personalities and abilities. There is even a samurai to round out the badassness of this group. ~ All Things Urban Fantasy ❖ This is a world that would have carried on much like our own without the arrival of the Power. World War I was even more horrific with the addition of magical powers thrown into the mix, ending only with the firing of a Tesla super weapon. Adolph Hitler and the Third Reich never rose to power, but the Japanese Imperium did - guided by the dreaded Chairman. Despite the assassination of the Chairman in HARD MAGIC the Imperium is drawing closer to all out war with the West. In the United States the government moves to register the magical Actives in order to provide greater "security" for the nation. Semi-historical quotes set the opening of each chapter and historical figures like Raymond Chandler, Buckminster Fuller, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John Moses Browning, and even Grigori Rasputin make appearances. It's an extremely cool setting, featuring magically augmented technology that is vastly more impressive than anything you'll find in the Steampunk genre. The zeppelins of The Grimnoir Chronicles are remarkable (Jake's experimental airship has firepower just shy of a Great War heavy cruiser). There are robots and all manner of deadly cool toys. WARBOUND even features Power armor. Power armor! ~ Elitist Book Reviews: Warbound Protagonists ❖ Jake Sullivan is a war hero, a private eye—and an ex-con. He’s free because he has a magical talent, being able to alter the force of gravity in himself and objects in his vicinity, and the Bureau of Investigation calls on him when they need his help in apprehending criminals with their own magical talents. (cover blurb) ❖ Jake Sullivan is a licensed Private Eye—with a seriously hardboiled attitude. He also possesses raw magical talent and the ability to make objects in his vicinity light as a feather or as heavy as depleted uranium, all with a magical thought. It's no wonder the G-men turn to Jake when they need someone to go after a suspected killer who's been knocking off banks in a magic-enhanced crime spree. ~ Goodreads ❖ Jake Sullivan is granted early parole by J. Edgar Hoover in exchange for working with the government to bring down dangerous “Actives” wanted for murder. While on a mission to bring down a dangerous “Brute” (i.e., super strength), Jake discovers that the Active in question is his old sweetheart Delilah. The confrontation leads Jake to the discovery that the government has been lying to him and he finds himself recruited by a magical society—the “'Grimnoir'”—that is involved in secret war against the evil Imperium (and alternate Japanese Empire run by the most powerful Active in the world, the Chairman). ❖ Sally Faye Vierra: A "Traveller". She teleports as her power. Originally an "Okie", she was bought by "Travelin Joe" Vierra when he recoginized the signs of her power. Book Cover Blurbs ✤ BOOK ONE BLURB—Hard Magic (2011): Jake Sullivan is a war hero, a private eye - and an ex-con. He's free because he has a magical talent, being able to alter the force of gravity in himself and objects in his vicinity, and the Bureau of Investigation calls on him when they need his help in apprehending criminals with their own magical talents. But the last operation he was sent along to help with went completely wrong, and Delilah Jones, the woman the G-men were after, who just happened to be an old friend of Jake's in happier times, had a lot of magical muscle with her, too much muscle for the cops to handle, even with Jake's help. — It got worse. Jake found out that the Feds had lied to him about Delilah being a murderer as well as a bank robber, and they had lied about this being his last job for them—he was too valuable for them to let him go. And things were even worse than Jake imagined. There was a secret war being waged by opposing forces of magic-users, and Jake had no idea that he had just attracted the attention of one side, whose ruthless leaders were of the opinion that Jake was far too dangerous to be permitted to live. ~ Fantstic Fiction ✤ BOOK TWO BLURB—Spellbound (2011): Dark fantasy goes hardboiled in #2 of the hard-hitting Grimnoir Chronicles by the New York Times best-selling creator of Monster Hunter International. The Grimnoir Society's mission is to protect people with magic, and they've done so—successfully and in secret—since the mysterious arrival of the Power in the 1850s, but when a magical assassin makes an attempt on the life of President Franklin Roosevelt, the crime is pinned on the Grimnoir. The knights must become fugitives while they attempt to discover who framed them. Thing go from bad to worse when Jake Sullivan, former p.i. and knight of the Grimnoir, receives a telephone call from a dead man - a man he helped kill.. Turns out the Power jumped universes because it was fleeing from a predator that eats magic and leaves destroyed worlds in its wake. That predator has just landed on Earth. ~ Spellbound ~ FF ✤ BOOK THREE BLURB—Warbound (2013): Only a handful of people in the world know that mankind's magic comes from a living creature, and it is a refugee from another universe. The Power showed up here in the 1850s because it was running from something. Now it is 1933, and the Power's hiding place has been discovered. It is a predator that eats magic and leaves destroyed worlds in its wake. Earth is next. Former private eye, Jake Sullivan, knows the score. The problem is hardly anyone believes him. The world's most capable Active, Faye Vierra, could back him up, but she is hiding from the forces that think she is too dangerous to let live. So Jake has put together a ragtag crew of airship pirates and Grimnoir knights, and set out on a suicide mission to stop the predator before it is too late. ~ Warbound ~ FF Category:Series